Hello

Cypress

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Hello,

I am a 28 year old Male from Utah. I have been married for nearly 5 years, and have a 3 year old daughter and a 6 month old son.

I was raised as LDS, and have since moved on. I know that this is a christian site, and that is why I am here. I actually don't consider myself Christian anymore, and I have come here to -- talk with members of this community. I am here to learn. I believe in keeping an open mind, as to what people believe, where their faith rests.

I feel that just because someone has a different view, or opinion on something, doesn't make them any less right than you... I am here to learn what it means to be a Christian.
 
Welcome Cypress!

Hello,
I feel that just because someone has a different view, or opinion on something, doesn't make them any less right than you... I am here to learn what it means to be a Christian.

You're correct. Having a different view is not how one should judge right and wrong. However, a true Christian believes in absolutes. Two conflicting opinions on the exact same situation, cannot both be correct.

My father-in-law asked me to hand him the brown fishing pole. I looked and there was no brown fishing pole.
There was a blue and a green.....

Yet he insisted one of the poles was brown. The one he said was brown, I saw it as green.

One of us was wrong, but neither of us was lying or trying to deceive the other. He was color blind, so it really looked brown to him. The reality was the pole was green, but even tho he knew he was color blind, he refused to admit it.

That is the way it sometimes is with religion. We want to believe something, even when their is evidence to the contrary. We insist something has to be the way we see it - sometimes even when we know it is not.

A true Christian accepts what God declares, even when it doesn't look that way from our point of view. We accept God is right and we are wrong.

Ginger
 
That's interesting...

Why does a Christian only deal in absolutes? Why can't two opinions about the same thing both be correct?

Your father in law, saw a brown pole, to him, his reality is that the pole is brown... To you, your reality is that the pole is green. Both are right. Even though the fact is that the pole is green. He sees it as brown, BUT, it is still just a pole. It doesn't matter what color it was/is.

I would use that with Christianity as well... As long as the indivdual believes in God, why does it matter what they call themselves, I.E. Catholic, Prtestant, Mormon...etc. It's all the same, it's God.

This is why I am here... To learn. Thank you for your reply, Ginger.
 
Well, I didn;t say we only deal in absolutes. I said we belive in absolutes. Today's mindset is that reality is subject to how one feels about a subject. That's not reality, but fantasy.

Your father in law, saw a brown pole, to him, his reality is that the pole is brown... To you, your reality is that the pole is green. Both are right. Even though the fact is that the pole is green. He sees it as brown, BUT, it is still just a pole. It doesn't matter what color it was/is.

You made me smile!!

I'll tell you what the difference is. Stop lights and bombs!!!!

1. People who see green as brown, often mistake a green light as being red. they have to depend on the position of the light. But sometimes lights go horizontal and sometimes vertical. Sometimes there's five lights instead of six.

2. A bomb squad better know the difference between red and green if he is deffusing a bomb or BOOM!!!!

I would use that with Christianity as well... As long as the indivdual believes in God, why does it matter what they call themselves, I.E. Catholic, Prtestant, Mormon...etc. It's all the same, it's God.

This is why I am here... To learn. Thank you for your reply, Ginger.

The same is true for religions. We are not all equal because believing in a god is not the same as believing in The God, if all other gods are false as states the Christian Bible.

Ginger
 
There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism (not water), one God & Father of us all (Ephesians 4:5). That is clear from scripture. Two things that lots of folks miss:

1) Christianity is not a religion, and
2) Although it is clear from scripture, one has to believe God's Word, especially with regard to eternal salvation. One has to respond to the witness of the Holy Spirit to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and to follow Him as Lord. Scriptures? Yes. John 14:6, John 3:16-17, John 3:3, Romans 10:8-13 (read that 4 or 5 times), and Ephesians 2:8-9.

Unless and until you believe and receive by faith the promises of those scripture references, you are paddling upstream without an oar.
 
I haven't yet said, whether I believe or not... I am here to learn what you all believe.

Personally, I feel that there is truth to be found in all Religions. It is my path, my mission to seek out those truths. That is why I am here, to learn.

Dok said:
Unless and until you believe and receive by faith the promises of those scripture references, you are paddling upstream without an oar.
You are correct... However, I haven't yet entered the stream. I am on the shore watching as others either float by, or paddle away.
 
Welcome to the fold brother!

I feel that there is truth to be found in all Religions.
I would have to agree with you in this remark, but there in lies the problem! Religions other than Christianity use half truths to drag us in to their beliefs. They paint a prettier picture that entices the feeble human brain, which is a very devious and dangerous thing. The half truths, lies, lead us away from the absolute truth.

All religions other than Christianity, take Christian beliefs and build them up from there, thus half truths.
 
Yet, Christianity is fairly Young, in comparison to most other Religions. How, did the older religions take the beliefs of a Religion that had not yet been created? I'm confused as to how you have come to your conclusion about these "Half Truths". Could you please expand a bit for me?
 
Yet, Christianity is fairly Young, in comparison to most other Religions. How, did the older religions take the beliefs of a Religion that had not yet been created? I'm confused as to how you have come to your conclusion about these "Half Truths". Could you please expand a bit for me?
Christianity has been around from the beginning of time. It was not known as such, but it has been here since day one as has Christ. There is no other "religion" which can stand the test of time as does Christianity. First off, let's look at the so called gods of these other religions. They were all born of man and woman, just as we were, then they died, then, most importantly, they are still dead, they do not live and thrive. No other religion has a god that lives and reigns today.

With a little discernment and study we can see that God is the only true God. And what, other, religion offers the gift of salvation by giving up themselves allowing us eternal life?

But of the utmost importance is that Christianity is not about religion! It is about a special one on one relationship, in which we are given a special gift that no other religion can offer.
 
Yet, Christianity is fairly Young, in comparison to most other Religions. How, did the older religions take the beliefs of a Religion that had not yet been created?

Christianity is young, but Christianity is the fulfillment of the Hebrew God which was from the beginning - before all else! Therefore all others are cheap imitations. :)
 
Christianity is young, but Christianity is the fulfillment of the Hebrew God which was from the beginning - before all else! Therefore all others are cheap imitations. :)
And as I said, they take pieces of the truth and build on it to benefit themselves, i.e. 'half truths'.
 
Is this all Christianity has to offer? The bomb/traffic light metaphor is an interesting one and I tip my hat for creativity to whomever first used it - be it Ginger or someone else. But metaphors can work in many ways can they not? What if...say...we were to juxtaposition that? Then we would, from the hard-line zealot's opinion, have a workable theory impervious to outside threat but in what ever direction we wished to take it, would we not? I could claim to be a follower of the Ancient Egyptian religion for instance: I spent my life studying what tenets and proverbs there were to be found within it, and then use an everyday analogy or metaphor about traffic signal color to explain how the Jewish slaves took their Yahweh from my original religion, then how the Jews altered it further leading up to Jesus...and then I could go on and explain that St Paul shaped it even more to his liking after Jesus' tale ended, and then I could be encouraged to continue (beating the already rancid horse) telling of the things omitted during the Dark Ages, et cetera.

Why can there not be harmonious co-existence and appreciation towards our fellow man even if their philosophies differ slightly or drastically?
 
Why can there not be harmonious co-existence and appreciation towards our fellow man even if their philosophies differ slightly or drastically?
Simple, we are human, and the brain that God gave us cannot and does not work in that manner. That would be a perfect world, and we live in the farthest such thing.
 
Is this all Christianity has to offer? The bomb/traffic light metaphor is an interesting one and I tip my hat for creativity to whomever first used it - be it Ginger or someone else.

Well, thank you Cypress! It is original, as am I. :)

But metaphors can work in many ways can they not? What if...say...we were to juxtaposition that? Then we would, from the hard-line zealot's opinion, have a workable theory impervious to outside threat but in what ever direction we wished to take it, would we not? I could claim to be a follower of the Ancient Egyptian religion for instance: I spent my life studying what tenets and proverbs there were to be found within it, and then use an everyday analogy or metaphor about traffic signal color to explain how the Jewish slaves took their Yahweh from my original religion, then how the Jews altered it further leading up to Jesus...and then I could go on and explain that St Paul shaped it even more to his liking after Jesus' tale ended, and then I could be encouraged to continue (beating the already rancid horse) telling of the things omitted during the Dark Ages, et cetera.

Well, that's not original at all. That's already being done by many, many religions.

Why can there not be harmonious co-existence and appreciation towards our fellow man even if their philosophies differ slightly or drastically?

I have a long-time atheist friend. We get along great! I am Protestant, yet half my family is strict Roman Catolic. We loved each other deeply. I made some dear Muslim friends who offered to teach me about their faith. We didn't see each other again for several years. When I ran into two of them they seemed genuinely happy to see me - and we did discuss our differences.

Let me ask you why Christians are being forced to hide our faith if "harmonious co-existance is desired. Why are Nativities banned and replaced with Jewish and Muslim displays?

When I was in grade school our Christmas concert included Christmas songs, secular seasonal songs, and Jewish songs.

Just a couple years ago I heard a woman on the radio whining because she felt so left out at the Christmas concert when they sang Silent Night at the end of the program. The whole spot was about eliminated Christmas songs from Christmas concerts in the name of inclusivity.

I decided to check the program and there were more secular holiday/season songs than Christmas song, and only ONE Christian song - Silent Night.

Yep, that is the irrational thinking of atheists, my friend, - "the way to be inclusive is to exclude Christians"!
 
Ancient Roman, Greek, Egyptian polytheistic religions. Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism. Shinto, Taoism, Confucianism, Zoroastrianism
There are a few

I love it when people give so many examples! It makes it so much easier to discredit their theories.

Christianity is the fulfillment of the promises of God to Abraham. There is no copying or immitating. The God we worship is the Hebrew God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We acknowledge Judaism is true! We do not change any of their past teachings. In fact we believe the entire Torah remains true!

Buddha was born approximately 560 B.C. - the Christian faith is built upon Judaism. Buddhism came after, therefore it is an immitation of the One and Only God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
 
No one knows when Hinduism arose, but all have it at 3000 years ago or later, so again, it must be a copy of the original God because Abraham lived more than 4000 years ago.

I could go on but I believe I have made my point! :)
 
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